Enjoying tea prevents diseases, preserves health and
prolongs life. In China people have this beneficial habit since a long time. Lu Yu from
the Tang-Dynasty (AD 618-907) wrote the Classical tome about tea (Cha Jing) which
had him risen to immortal honor as the "Tea God" deified by the tea vendors.
Because of this, some people assume the habit of taking tea stems from that period of
time, but in fact tea leaves were already used as medical herbs in very early times: A
description in the Shen Nong Materia Medica (Shen nong ben cao) compiled from
classical sources at the western Han-Dynasty (BC 206-5 AD) comments: "Bitter-cool in
taste... when often used gives a feeling of satisfaction and a calm mind, raises the
spirit and makes life lasting." Also in the Shen Nong Dietetics Classic (Shen
nong shi jing) it is emphasized: "Tea leaves promote diuresis, drive out phlegm and
heat, stop diarrhea and help people to sleep less..." and "Taking often tea
gives people strength, joy and perseverance."

living in typical tea plantages are found to have an
extraordinary low

rate of cancer.

E. For old people with "vacuity" symptoms
in kidneys and spleen,

dizziness, bad eyesight and diminishing memory it is
highly

recommendable to drink often tea, since this helps
to digest fats, raises

the spirits, dispels "fire", clears the
eyesight and calms the mind and

improves the mood. Drinking tea regularly in the
summertime prevents

and cures enteritis and summer-diarrhea.

F. Since it contains the vitamins C and P, tea
increases also the

flexibility of the blood vessels' walls, which helps
to prevent artero-

sclerosis, cerebro-vascular diseases, etc. and has
multifarious other

beneficial functions.

3. Analysis of the ingredients found in the tea
leave

and their pharmaceutical application

Pharmaceutical research has analyzed all components
found in the tea leaves among others there are fragrant aromatic oils, coffeine, alkalic
minerals (manganite), tannic acid, vitamins (A,B2,C,D and P).

The aromatic oils exite the nerves of the
cerebro-vascular (brain-blood vessels) system and increase the oxygen absorption and
transport, which raises the spirit and euphorizes the mood.

Coffeine expands the blood vessels and stimulates
the forebrain, adjusts the stomachs secretion, increases the kidneys diuresis and promotes
the detoxification process in the liver.

The alkaline mineral in the green and brown tea
(manganite is destroyed by complete fermentation and hence not found in black tea),
enlarge the fat digestion, a function which -in cooperation with the coffeine's functions-
stop the raising of the puric acid (purine) to prevent gout and prevent as well as treat
the myocard infarcts of the heart.

Tannic acid is an astringent antilaxans (stops
diarrhea), also helps with fat digestion, is antiseptic (destroys some bacteria) and plays
a role in the livers detoxification of alkaloid poisons.

Recently scientists have moreover discovered that
people living in tea cultivation areas suffer extraordinarily seldom from cancers and
infarcts. Tea leaves -so the conclusion- must contain factors that control and inhibit the
production of cancer cells. If tea leaves are added to the daily diet of white laboratory
rats, their cancer cells are remarkably reduced or even extinguished after just three
weeks.

4. Differentiation of tea sorts

Tea leaves are distinguished by their preparation
and the different tea leaves, in general, we can divide them into four major classes:

1. Green Tea- unfermented

2. Oolong (Wulong) Tea- semi-fermented

3. Black Tea- completely fermented

4. Pressed Tea (tea bricks)- only used in a few
areas, often as medicament

From the viewpoint of TC medicine, green tea is cool
in character and has better abilities for cooling "fire" and detoxify poison;
the fermented black tea (or in China "red" tea- judging from the infuses color,
not from the leaves)is rather warm in character, warms stomach, stops diarrhea and helps
in the digestion process. The half-fermented (brown) Oolong tea lies in its functions and
character between the other two, according to the degree of fermentation.

Therefore it is recommendable to drink green tea for
detoxification and cooling inflammations, and black tea for warming the stomach and as to
stop loose bowels, Oolong can be a daily beverage and pressed tea is a beverage with sour
cream added in Tibet and Yunnan and some small areas, but can increase digestion, fat
transformation and reduction.

5. Some notes on tea leaves' characteristics and
their preparation

Tea leaves belong to the fragrant herbs and like
a warm, dry environment, stored in a tightly sealed box; zinc is the best material for
this purpose. Porcelain, earthenware and less good iron (tannic acid corrodes iron) are
also possible.

Storing should prevent tea leaves from cold, wet
air, contact with fishy, rancid, greasy smells and sharp, alkalic and sour materials. If
tea ever has moulded it is not very suitable to drink it anymore; although you can get rid
of the mouldy smell by backing the leaves slightly but fragrance, color, astringency are
lost (besides the toxins of mould are strong carcerogenics). Although tea is an daily
necessarity, but if not be kept in the right way and poured with the wrong method the same
tea leaves will have different functions and taste.

The water source for pouring tea is of great
importance, since the taste will be unpleasant, if the water source isn't good. it is said
already in the Classical tome about tea (Cha Jing): "Water from mountains is
superior, from rivers is plain and from wells is inferior." That means water from
natural fountains is definitely the best, water from brooks should be boiled to kill
micro-organisms and tap water must be stored overnight or undergo longer periods of
boiling to make its sediments sink down or oxidize.

The boiling water when ready to pour must first
be poured in an instant over the leaves to free them from dust, dirt and cold air in the
veins (This is the first pouring which is in China traditionally thrown away).

The fire to heat was one of the objects of the
ancient people, who researched the art of taking tea: They distinguished between the warm
fire and the vivid fire, meaning coal fire. The latter heated the water over three stages;
slowly getting hotter from " tiny bubbles like fish eyes and a light high pitched
sound" over "ripples from all sides and strings of pearls (bubbles)" to
finally "overturning waves and the whole water in motion". this is called the
" boiling method of three stages" which needs vivid (flame) fire to do it. But
then again the worst one can do is do let the smoke of the fuel pollute the tea leaves. In
the Odd Records of the Qing (Qing yi lu) this is called "Broth of 5 burglars
and 6 demons"...

So pouring tea in that way can take a lot of time,
nowadays when we drink tea, the most important question is how to benefit our health. We
don't need to copy the research of the ancient leisure masters and idle scholars, just use
clear, good water, tea leaves that are not moulded, clean teapots and cups and we can any
time pour and drink as long as we won't forget to take out the tea leaves in the pot. In
this way tea still can be a simple pleasure.

6. The right time to drink tea

Tea can be drunk during the day when thirsty, at
work or at leisure. People of ancient times also used tea to rinse their mouths after
eating in order to remove greasy residue of the meal without harming the spleen and
stomach.

The latter can happen when people drink tea together
with or right after the meal; then the tannic acid coagulates the proteins and prevents
their absorption. Tea shouldn't be drunk when hungry since it promotes bowel movements,
and the widening of the blood vessels increases furthermore the feeling of hunger. It also
shouldn't be consumed before going to sleep, since its stimulating coffeine can influence
the period of falling asleep and its diuretic alkaline components may urge the sleeper to
get up for urination during the night.

7. Side effects of tea consumption

Drinking tea excessively or in huge amounts can be
harmful. If a person drinks daily more than one liter of tea, it can lead to a lack of
vitamin B1, since the tannic acid reacts chemically with the vitamin and reduces such the
amount of available B1.

Forcing oneself to drink more tea than suitable
increases the burden of the stomach and leads to incomplete digestion.

Coffeine raises the nightly production of stomach
acid, therefore patients with stomach ulcers should also avoid it.

8. Which people are not suitable to drink tea?

1. Patients with high fever who took antipyretic
(against fever) since alkali can raise the body temperature and counters the effects of
acetylsalicylic acid ( like Aspirinâ ) by a chemical reaction with it.

2. Patients with hypertension, heart diseases,
lying-in women, should be careful since coffeine raises the blood pressure in the
forebrain, accelerates the heartbeat and reduces the milk secretion functions.

9. Which kinds of medicaments should not be taken
with tea?

According to the Herbal Materia Medica (Ben
cao gang mu) tea should not be taken together with China root (smilax pseudochina). Of the
Chinese herbs all "Bu" (supplementing) medicaments like ginseng, tang-kuei
(angelica sinensis) etc. are not suitable for simultaneous consumption since they can lead
to a coffeine intoxication by reciprocal interaction.

Among western medicine there is quinine, iron
substrates, ephedrine and atropine that should not be taken with tea, since it reduces or
influences their effect.

Furthermore tea that has been remaining overnight
from the day before or became cold for a long time should not be consumed anymore
(oxidation). In Hu Ju's 10 eating taboos (Hu ju shi shi ji) it is said that tea
should not be drunk, when one eats Chinese leek (allium tuberosum, jiu), since:
"Drinking tea for a long time make light like a feather, but together with leek it
makes the body heavy." And finally in the Lost Volumes of the Herbal Materia
Medica (Ben cao gang mu shi yi) is recorded: "Patients that suffered from lung
diseases have lost blood, their stomach and belly is cold, so they are most unsuitable to
drink tea."

10. Conclusion

1. Drinking tea is good for the digestion, has fat
digestion abilities; it is most suitable for obese patients to drink tea (a while) after
eating rich, greasy food. A saying from the Sung-Dynasty goes: "One cup of tea in the
morning, makes the pharmacist starve from hunger (since he'll run out of business)."

2. Since tea contains traces of fluor, it is
recommended to use it often for rinsing the mouth in the evening before going to sleep,
such lowering the caries risk. Since they contain tannin, it can make some meat residues
between the teeth shrink (by its astringency) and such substitute a toothpick.

3. Although tea has the ability to exite and raise
the spirit, but such is not always wished for persons suffering from nervousity or
hysteria and insomnia, who take refuge in psychopharmaceutic drugs. In this cases tea
might reduce the medicaments' effects and it is better only to drink a cup in the morning
and at noon, but not after four o'clock in the afternoon. In this way it takes away the
drowsiness resulting from the drug when needed, but doesn't counteract against it when the
sleeping time has come.

Even better is to try drinking some strong tea
continuously for days and then refrain from drinking it, which (after a natural adjusting)
might even make the drug not necessary anymore.

4. Tea is definitely a very good beverage and is
beneficial in many regards, but nevertheless the individual case depend on a persons
physique and his ways of life as for example if he is used to drink tea, suffers from a
weak constitution, hypertension, heart diseases, vacuity and "coldness" of
stomach and intestines, and so on; especially if he belongs to this vacuity/coldness group
of patients and suffers from a stomach ulcer, then drinking tea is not suitable for him.